Co-parenting help on the phone

Community Justice Centre (CJC) has launched a NEW mobile app to help divorced couples co-parent their children, in a bid to reduce misunderstandings and conflict.

This comes in light of social service agencies seeing more people seeking co-parenting support and the large number of divorce cases handled by CJC social and legal services. CJC aims to have 500 users in its first year.

In addition to the calendar planning feature, the app will allow divorced parents to track their child’s financial expenses and attach receipts as proof.

It will also allow users to share documents and exchange messages via chat without having to reveal their phone number.

Records from the app, such as requests to spend time with a child in the calendar or exchanges of messages, can be exported for official purposes, e.g. court hearings.

The CJC said the new app was designed to prioritise accountability and transparency in co-parenting.

Dr Leonard Lee, executive director of the CJC, said the centre sees a steady high volume of divorce cases involving child support and contact, supported by social and legal services.

Data from the CJC Maintenance Records Officer (MRO) shows that on average around 70% of MRO cases per year were assessed as likely to be due to a reluctance to pay maintenance despite a court order, even if the defendant could afford to do so.

“Of course, this requires some interventions to be taken for better monitoring and extrajudicial ‘enforcement’ of the law to support affected families,” Lee said.

Divorce is a life-changing event and its effects can be felt by children as they grow up, he added.

“It is time to provide more support to divorced families to ease the long-term effects of divorce on children,” he added.

A total of 7,118 marriages ended in divorce or annulment in 2023, according to the Department of Statistics. This was a 0.2% increase from 7,107 in 2022.

Back in August, family support centers reported that co-parenting was a serious problem for people seeking support there in connection with divorce.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities has seen an average increase of 20% in the number of cases seeking co-parenting support between 2019 and 2023.

Features in the CJC app, such as a template for requesting an event reschedule or access to arrangements, are designed to minimize conflicts when last-minute changes occur, Lee said.

Use of the app is currently voluntary, but third parties such as mediators, social workers and family lawyers will encourage their clients to do so.

Gloria James, principal attorney at law firm Gloria James-Civetta & Co, said issues that arise in co-parenting include sending a child home after a previously agreed visit, parents blocking each other on WhatsApp and insisting on a third party, such as a domestic help, to facilitate communication.

She added that the CJC app will help resolve some of these issues as it will allow both parents to check whether their ex-spouse has complied with court orders to allow them access to their children, and whether any child support or financial arrangements have been made.

Other forms of communication, such as WhatsApp, can be easily manipulated and deleted in a log thread. The app log can serve as credible evidence that can be presented in court, she added. — The Straits Times/ANN